First female VP candidate Ferraro dies at 75

Beth Fouhy and Jay Lindsay Associated Press

Published 12:01 am, Sunday, March 27, 2011

Photo: Charles Rex Arbogast

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FILE - This Friday, May 4, 2007 picture shows former Democratic vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro during a news conference before a fundraising lunch hosted by U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., in Chicago. The first woman to run for U.S. vice president on a major party ticket has died. Geraldine Ferraro was 75. A family friend said Ferraro, who was diagnosed with blood cancer in 1998, died Saturday, March 26, 2011 at Massachusetts General Hospital. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast) less

FILE - This Friday, May 4, 2007 picture shows former Democratic vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro during a news conference before a fundraising lunch hosted by U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., in ... more

Photo: Charles Rex Arbogast

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FILE - This Tuesday, Aug. 21, 1984 file picture shows Geraldine Ferraro at a news conference in New York. A spokesperson said Saturday, March 26, 2011 that Ferraro, the first woman to run for vice president, has died at 75. (AP Photo/Suzanne Vlamis, File) less

FILE - This Tuesday, Aug. 21, 1984 file picture shows Geraldine Ferraro at a news conference in New York. A spokesperson said Saturday, March 26, 2011 that Ferraro, the first woman to run for vice president, ... more

Photo: Suzanne Vlamis

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FILE - In this Wednesday, Aug. 1, 1984 file picture, Democratic Vice Presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro gives the thumbs-up sign to a crowd of supporters in downtown Jackson, Miss. as Walter Mondale and Ferraro kicked off their 1984 campaign in this Southern city. Behind Ferraro are Mondale, state Rep. Robert Clark and former Gov. William Winter. The first woman to run for U.S. vice president on a major party ticket has died. Geraldine Ferraro was 75. A family friend said Ferraro, who was diagnosed with blood cancer in 1998, died Saturday, March 26, 2011 at Massachusetts General Hospital. (AP Photo/Ron Frehm, File) less

FILE - In this Thursday, July 19, 1984 file picture, Democratic presidential nominee Walter Mondale, center, and his running mate Geraldine Ferraro, right, wave from the podium at the conclusion of the final session of the Democratic National Convention in San Francisco, Calif. In background are Mondale's children, from left, Eleanor Mondale, Ted Mondale and William Mondale. The first woman to run for U.S. vice president on a major party ticket has died. Geraldine Ferraro was 75. A family friend said Ferraro, who was diagnosed with blood cancer in 1998, died Saturday, March 26, 2011 at Massachusetts General Hospital. (AP Photo/File) less

FILE - In this Thursday, July 19, 1984 file picture, Democratic presidential nominee Walter Mondale, center, and his running mate Geraldine Ferraro, right, wave from the podium at the conclusion of the final ... more

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FILE - In this Thursday, July 19, 1984 file picture, Democratic presidential nominee Walter Mondale, center, and his running mate Geraldine Ferraro, right, wave from the podium at the conclusion of the final session of the Democratic National Convention in San Francisco, Calif. In background are Mondale's children, from left, Eleanor Mondale, Ted Mondale and William Mondale. The first woman to run for U.S. vice president on a major party ticket has died. Geraldine Ferraro was 75. A family friend said Ferraro, who was diagnosed with blood cancer in 1998, died Saturday, March 26, 2011 at Massachusetts General Hospital. (AP Photo/File) less

FILE - In this Thursday, July 19, 1984 file picture, Democratic presidential nominee Walter Mondale, center, and his running mate Geraldine Ferraro, right, wave from the podium at the conclusion of the final ... more

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FILE - In this Tuesday, Sept. 18, 1984 file picture, Democratic vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro holds up a document claiming President Ronald Reagan has failed to support a single arms control agreement which six previous U.S. presidents have. Ms. Ferraro, addressing the Young Lawyers, Division of the Philadelphia Bar Association said Reagans policies have led to an arms control gridlock that does not reduce the risk of nuclear war. The first woman to run for U.S. vice president on a major party ticket has died. Geraldine Ferraro was 75. A family friend said Ferraro, who was diagnosed with blood cancer in 1998, died Saturday, March 26, 2011 at Massachusetts General Hospital. (AP Photo/Ron Frehm) less

FILE - In this Tuesday, Sept. 18, 1984 file picture, Democratic vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro holds up a document claiming President Ronald Reagan has failed to support a single arms control ... more

Photo: Ron Frehm

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FILE - In this Aug. 21, 1984 file picture, Geraldine Ferraro explains the finances of herself and husband during a news conference in the Queens borough of New York. The first woman to run for U.S. vice president on a major party ticket has died. Geraldine Ferraro was 75. A family friend said Ferraro, who was diagnosed with blood cancer in 1998, died Saturday, March 26, 2011 at Massachusetts General Hospital. (AP Photo/File) less

FILE - In this Aug. 21, 1984 file picture, Geraldine Ferraro explains the finances of herself and husband during a news conference in the Queens borough of New York. The first woman to run for U.S. vice ... more

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FILE - In this Thursday, Oct. 11, 1984 file picture, Vice-President George H. Bush, left, shakes hands with Democratic vice-presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro before the beginning of their debate in Philadelphia. The first woman to run for U.S. vice president on a major party ticket has died. Geraldine Ferraro was 75. A family friend said Ferraro, who was diagnosed with blood cancer in 1998, died Saturday, March 26, 2011 at Massachusetts General Hospital. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar) less

FILE - In this Thursday, Oct. 11, 1984 file picture, Vice-President George H. Bush, left, shakes hands with Democratic vice-presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro before the beginning of their debate in ... more

Photo: Gene J. Puskar

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FILE - In this Thursday, March 13, 2008 file picture, former vice-presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro address attendees at the Women's Summit 2008 on the Bryant University campus in North Smithfield, R.I. The first woman to run for U.S. vice president on a major party ticket has died. Geraldine Ferraro was 75. A family friend said Ferraro, who was diagnosed with blood cancer in 1998, died Saturday, March 26, 2011 at Massachusetts General Hospital. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia, File) less

FILE - In this Thursday, March 13, 2008 file picture, former vice-presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro address attendees at the Women's Summit 2008 on the Bryant University campus in North Smithfield, R.I. ... more

Photo: Stephan Savoia

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FILE - This 1984 file picture shows Geraldine Ferraro. The first woman to run for U.S. vice president on a major party ticket has died. Geraldine Ferraro was 75. A family friend said Ferraro, who was diagnosed with blood cancer in 1998, died Saturday, March 26, 2011 at Massachusetts General Hospital. (AP Photo/File) less

FILE - This 1984 file picture shows Geraldine Ferraro. The first woman to run for U.S. vice president on a major party ticket has died. Geraldine Ferraro was 75. A family friend said Ferraro, who was diagnosed ... more

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FILE - In this Tuesday, Nov. 6, 1984 file picture, Democratic vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro gathers with her family at a hotel in New York as they await the returns of the presidential election. At center is her husband, John Zaccaro, and their children John Jr. , Laura, and Donna. The first woman to run for U.S. vice president on a major party ticket has died. Geraldine Ferraro was 75. A family friend said Ferraro, who was diagnosed with blood cancer in 1998, died Saturday, March 26, 2011 at Massachusetts General Hospital. (AP Photo/Ron Frehm, File) less

FILE - In this Tuesday, Nov. 6, 1984 file picture, Democratic vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro gathers with her family at a hotel in New York as they await the returns of the presidential election. ... more

Photo: Ron Frehm

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First female VP candidate Ferraro dies at 75

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BOSTON -- Geraldine Ferraro was a relatively obscure congresswoman from the New York City borough of Queens in 1984 when she was tapped by Democratic presidential nominee Walter Mondale to join his ticket.

Her vice presidential bid, the first for a woman on a major party ticket, emboldened women across the country to seek public office and helped lay the groundwork for Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential candidacy in 2008 and John McCain's choice of his running mate, Sarah Palin, that year.

Ferraro died Saturday in Boston, where the 75-year-old was being treated for complications of blood cancer. She died just before 10 a.m., said Amanda Fuchs Miller, a family friend who worked for Ferraro in her 1998 Senate bid and was acting as a spokeswoman for the family.

Mondale's campaign had struggled to gain traction and his selection of Ferraro, at least momentarily, revived his momentum and energized millions of women who were thrilled to see a woman on a national ticket.

The blunt, feisty Ferraro charmed audiences initially, and for a time polls showed the Democratic ticket gaining ground on President Ronald Reagan and Vice President George H. W. Bush. But her candidacy ultimately proved rocky as she fought ethics charges and traded barbs with Bush over accusations of sexism and class warfare.

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Ferraro later told an interviewer, "I don't think I'd run again for vice president," then added, "Next time I'd run for president."

Reagan won 49 of 50 states in 1984, the largest landslide since Franklin D. Roosevelt's first re-election over Alf Landon in 1936. But Ferraro had forever sealed her place as trailblazer for women in politics.

Palin, who was Alaska's governor when she ran for vice president, often spoke of Ferraro on the campaign trail.

"She broke one huge barrier and then went on to break many more," Palin wrote on her Facebook page Saturday. "May her example of hard work and dedication to America continue to inspire all women."

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For his part, Mondale remembered his former running mate as "a remarkable woman and a dear human being."

"She was a pioneer in our country for justice for women and a more open society. She broke a lot of molds and it's a better country for what she did," Mondale told The Associated Press.

Ferraro died at Massachusetts General Hospital, where she had gone Monday for a procedure to relieve back pain caused by a fracture. Such fractures are common in people with her type of blood cancer because of the thinning of their bones, said Dr. Noopur Raje, the Mass General doctor who treated her.

Ferraro, however, developed pneumonia, which made impossible to perform the procedure, and it soon became clear she didn't have long to live, Raje said. Since she was too ill to return to New York, her family went to Boston.

Raje said it seemed Ferraro held out until her husband and three children arrived. They were all at her bedside when she passed, she said.

"Gerry actually waited for all of them to come, which I think was incredible," said Raje, director of the myloma program at the hospital's cancer center. "They were all able to say their goodbyes to Mom."

Ferraro stepped into the national spotlight at the Democratic convention in 1984, giving the world its first look at a co-ed presidential ticket. It seemed, at times, an awkward arrangement -- she and Mondale stood together and waved at the crowd but did not hug and barely touched.

Delegates erupted in cheers at the first line of her speech accepting the vice-presidential nomination.

"My name is Geraldine Ferraro," she declared. "I stand before you to proclaim tonight: America is the land where dreams can come true for all of us."

Ferraro, a mother of three who campaigned wearing pastel-hued dresses and pumps, sometimes overshadowed Mondale on the campaign trail, often drawing larger crowds and more media attention than the presidential candidate.

But controversy accompanied her acclaim. A Roman Catholic, she encountered frequent, vociferous protests of her favorable view of abortion rights.

She famously tangled with Bush, her vice presidential rival who struggled at times over how aggressively to attack Ferraro.

In their only nationally televised debate, in October 1984, Bush raised eyebrows when he said, "Let me help you with the difference, Ms. Ferraro, between Iran and the embassy in Lebanon." Ferraro shot back, saying she resented Bush's "patronizing attitude that you have to teach me about foreign policy."

Ferraro would later suggest on the campaign trail that Bush and his family were wealthy and therefore didn't understand the problems faced by ordinary voters. That comment irked Bush's wife, Barbara, who said Ferraro had more money than the Bush family. "I can't say it, but it rhymes with rich," Barbara Bush told reporters when asked to describe Ferraro. She later apologized.

In a statement, Bush praised Ferraro for "the dignified and principled manner she blazed new trails for women in politics."

Ferraro's run also was beset by ethical questions, first about her campaign finances and tax returns, then about the business dealings of her husband, real estate developer John Zaccaro. Ferraro attributed much of the controversy to bias against Italian-Americans.

Zaccaro pleaded guilty in 1985 to a misdemeanor charge of scheming to defraud in connection with obtaining financing for the purchase of five apartment buildings. Two years later, he was acquitted of trying to extort a bribe from a cable television company.

Ferraro's son, John Zaccaro Jr., was convicted in 1988 of selling cocaine to an undercover Vermont state trooper and served three months under house arrest.

Some observers said the legal troubles were a drag on Ferraro's later political ambitions, which included her unsuccessful bids for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate in New York in 1992 and 1998.

Ferraro, a supporter of Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential bid, was back in the news in March 2008 when she appeared to suggest that Sen. Barack Obama achieved his status in the presidential race only because he is black. She later stepped down from an honorary post in the Clinton campaign, but insisted she meant no slight against Obama.

In a statement, Obama praised Ferraro as a trailblazer who had made the world better for his daughters.